Arcadi Navarro

He has a PhD in Biology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, serving as professor of genetics and lecturer and researcher at ICREA in its Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. His research focuses on population genetics, molecular evolution, genome-to-phenome relationships, and evolutionary medicine. In January 2016 he was appointed Secretary of Universities and Research of the Department of Knowledge and Business of the Government of Catalonia, a position he held until July 2018. Since April 2019 he has been the director of the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center  and since March 2020 also of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation.

About his research

Life as we see it in our planet today has been shaped by many different biological processes during billions of years. These processes leave a signature in our genomes in the form of differences between species, or between individuals of the same species. Interrogating these patterns of genome diversity, we can infer what are the forces that affect living organisms, how and when they act and how do they affect such various things as biodiversity, human emotions, senescence or the differential susceptibility of individuals to complex disease. All this knowledge empowers us to control our future but, above all, it is fun to obtain.

Current Research duties:

• Group leader of the genomics research group at the BBRC.
• Group leader of the evolutionary genomics lab at the UPF.

Professional duties:

• Director of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation since 2020.
• Director of the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center since 2019.
• Director of the European Genome-phenoma Archive, CRG-EBI (Center for Genomic Regulation) since 2013.
• Professor at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) since 2010.
• Director of the Population Genomics Node of the National Institute of Bioinformatics (INB) since 2007.
• ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University since 2006.

Previous professional duties:

• Secretary of Universities and Research of the Department of Knowledge and Business of the Government of Catalonia between 2016 and 2018.
• Member of the Steering Committee of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) between 2015-2017.
• Director of the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences of UPF between 2013-2016.
• Member of the Board of the SESBE (Spanish Society of Evolutionary Biology) between 2009-2016.
• Vice-director of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology since its foundation in 2008 and until 2013.
• Member of the Board of Directors of the SCB (Catalan Society of Biology) of the Institute of Catalan Studies with different responsibilities, including the treasury, between 2004-2013.
• Bioinformatics Coordinator at CeGen (National Genotype Center), between 2004-2006.

Academic Background:

• PhD in Genetics. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
• MSc in Genetics. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
• BSc in Biology. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Spain.